World Is Getting Closer To Passing Temperature Limit Set By Global Leaders Five Years Ago

Five years ago, global leaders set a temperature limit the world should not exceed in order to minimize the effects of climate change. Now a new report says that it may exceed that limit within the next decade.

In a short time frame, the world has seen unparalleled wildfires in the Amazon, the Arctic, and Australia. The global temperature has already increased by nearly 1.1 degrees Celsius since the late 1800s, the report noted.

Reuters

2016-2020 is on track to become the warmest five-year period on record. This year is the second hottest on record, the Associated Press (AP) reported.

Also Read: Sky Turns Hellish Red As California, Washington & Oregon Burn From Wildfires

WMO Secretary-General, Petteri Taalas, told the AP that there has been warming caused by humans, as well as natural warming that has occured from the El Ni?o weather pattern over the last five years.

The United in Science 2020 Report was produced by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), under the direction of the United Nations secretary-general, with the goal of compiling the latest climate information from global organizations, including WMO, Global Carbon Project (GCP), UNESCO Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (UNESCO-IOC), Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), UN Environment Programme (UNEP), and the Met Office.

Reuters

In the next five years, the world has nearly a 1-in-4 chance of experiencing a year that's hot enough to put the global temperature at 2.7 degrees (1.5 degrees Celsius) above pre-industrial times.

According to reports, 1.5 degrees Celsius is the more stringent of two limits set in 2015 by world leaders in the Paris climate change agreement. A 2018 U.N. science report said a world hotter than that still survives, but chances of dangerous problems increase tremendously.

Also Read: Couple Find Wedding Rings In The Ashes Of Their Home After It Burnt Down Due To Wildfires

"Record heat, ice loss, wildfires, floods, and droughts continue to worsen, affecting communities, nations, and economies around the world," UN Secretary-General, Ant¨®nio Guterres, wrote in the report¡¯s foreword.

¡°The probability of 1.5 degrees (Celsius) is growing year by year,¡± Taalas told The Associated Press. ¡°It¡¯s very likely to happen in the next decade if we don¡¯t change our behavior.¡± That¡¯s potentially faster than what a 2018 U.N. report found - that the world was likely to hit 1.5 degrees sometime between 2030 and 2052.

Reuters

¡°Drought and heat waves substantially increased the risk of wildfires,¡± the report said. ¡°The three largest economic losses on record from wildfires have all occurred in the last four years.¡±

Carbon dioxide emissions will be down four percent to seven percent this year because of reduced travel and industrial activities during the coronavirus pandemic, but the heat-trapping gas stays in the air for a century so the levels in the atmosphere continue to go up - Taalas explained - and so will the warming.

Also Read: Since 1994, Earth Has Lost 28 Trillion Tonnes Of Ice And We Can Thank Global Warming For That

Breakthrough Institute climate scientist, Zeke Hausfather, who wasn¡¯t part of the new report, said the document was a good update of what scientists already know. It is ¡°abundantly clear that rapid climate change is continuing and the world is far from on track¡± toward meeting the Paris climate goals, he said.

Some countries, including the U.S. and many in Europe, are reducing emissions of heat-trapping carbon dioxide, but Taalas said the world is on a path that will be 5.4 degrees (3 degrees Celsius) warmer compared with the late 19th century. That would be above the Paris accord¡¯s less stringent 2-degree Celsius target.

All Inputs: AP.